Glencross hasn't played since sustaining a high ankle sprain in the first minute of a 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 21, a span of 29 games.

"Anytime you come back you want to start right back up where you left off," Glencross said. "Things were just starting to get rolling again when I got hurt there in Pittsburgh. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get back the timing. Hopefully we can get the bugs out of the way early and hopefully get better and better as we go on."

It's been a trying 12 months for the 31-year-old. He missed 15 games earlier in the season with a second-degree sprain of a medial collateral ligament. He returned to play six games before sitting out nearly three months with the ankle injury.

A knee injury prematurely ended his season in 2012-13 with a handful games remaining.

"We play the game to play games," Glencross said. "It's not much fun when you're in the weight room all the time or bag skating and don't get to play. I'm excited to get back out there and get back into game situations. That's why we train and that's what our jobs are, playing and performing in games. I'm excited to get back out there."

Conditioning shouldn't be a problem for the 6-foot-1, 197-pound forward. He's had plenty of on-ice time to prepare for his return.

"Coming back from an injury like that is a lot of work, and every day we see him in the gym working his you-know-what off," Flames forward Joe Colborne said. "He's put in the time and you see him getting [bag skated] on the ice every day. We're just happy we don't have to watch him do that anymore. It was pretty painful to watch.

"You feel for him because you know that's not any fun at all, but he's put in the time and the work, so hopefully he can have some success the rest of the year."

Forward Kevin Westgarth, who missed the previous five games with a head injury sustained in a fight, also will return for the Flames.

Returning to Calgary is former Flames forward Tim Jackman, who was traded to Anaheim on Nov. 21 for a sixth-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. The move has served Jackman well.

"It just wasn't working out for me [in Calgary] after 10 games," Jackman said. "I was in and out of the lineup, and they wanted to get some young guys in and make some changes. Fortunately for me I got traded to the Ducks, who have been a very good team and won the Pacific [Division] last year and we're first place this year. It's been a good change for me hockey-wise."

Jackman spent parts of four seasons with the Flames, with 13 goals and 36 points in 209 games.

"I still have some good friends here," Jackman said. "Back here and seeing some familiar faces has been a lot of fun, but it's a different feeling obviously."

The Ducks will have forward Mathieu Perreault available after he missed four games with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Ben Lovejoy is questionable due to illness.

He's only 17 but he can see the ice so well and he moves the puck and goes to the open ice all the time, so I just think he's a player that is ready to play in the NHL. I'm really looking forward to coaching someone like this.

— U.S. National Junior Team coach Ron Wilson on Auston Matthews, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft